OHIO STATEWIDE FILES - HISTORY: Chapter 31 (Abbott, John S. C., 1875)
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			Chapter XXXI
		  Tecumseh and the Prophet

   Among the most distinguished men whose lives are interwoven with the 
great events which have been transpired in the Northwestern Territory, William
Henry Harrison stands prominent. He was born at Berkeley, on the James River, 
in Virginia, on the 9th of February, 1773. His father was wealthy, and a man
of commanding influence in his day. He was an intimate friend of the Continental
Congress.
   Benjamin Harrison was a very portly, good-natured, jovial man. In the Congress
of 1775, he was the rival of John Hancock for Speaker. Harrison modestly
hesitate a little to take the chair, he with characteristic playfulness, 
seized him in his muscular arms, as though Hancock had been a mere child,
and bore him to the seat of honor. Then turning around, his honest face
beaming with fun, he said to his amused associates:
   "Gentlemen, we will show Mother Britain how little we care for her, by
making our President a Massachusetts man, whom she has excluded from pardon
by a public proclamation."
   He was twice chosen Governor of Virginia. His son enjoyed all the advantages
which wealth, education and cultivated society could then give. He graduated
with honor at Hampden Sidney College, and studied medicine at Philadelphia
under Dr. Rush. Washington was then President of the United States. The Indians
were committing fearful ravages on our northwestern frontier. General St.
Clair had been sent to erect Fort Washington on the far-distant waters of 
the unexplored Ohio.
   Young Harrison, probably influenced both by a natural love of adventure
and also by sympathy for the sufferings of emigrant families, though then
but nineteen years of age, enlisted in the army. Just before Harrison
received from Washington his commission as ensign, General St. Clair 
encountered his terrible defeat near the head-waters of the Wabash. This
awful catastrophe had spread consternation throughout the whole frontier. The
Indians, flushed with victory and supplied with arms and ammunition by the
British authorities in Canada, were roving with the tomahawk and the torch 
in all directions.
   The storms of Winter were beginning to wail through the treetops and to
sweep the bleak prairies. Young Harrison in physical organization was frail;
but he was endued with that indomitable will which often triumphs over bodily
weakness. The heroic young man crossed the Alleghenies on foot. Upon reaching
Pittsburgh he took a boat and floated down the forest-fringed Ohio till he
reached the point where the log structure, called Fort Washington, appeared
upon the river banks, surrounded by stumps in an opening which the ax had
made in the dense wood.
   The first duty assigned to him was to take charge of a train of pack-horses
bound to Fort Hamilton, about twenty-five miles north of Fort Washingon, on
the east banks of the Great Miami. St. Clair had built a stockade there at
the commencement of his disastrous campaign, for the deposit of provisions
and ammunition, and as one of the connecting links between Fort Washington
and a line of fortresses which he hoped to construct to the mouth of the 
Maumee where it enters Lake Erie.
   It was an arduous undertaking. The wilderness was almost pathless. Nearly
every mile afforded facilities for ambuscades. The forest was filled with 
fierce and able warriors. Their runners were watching every movement of the
whites. A veteran frontiersman, inured to the hardships and the perils of 
life in the wilderness and battles with the savages, as he looked upon the 
slender, beardless boy at the close of the service which he admirably 
performed, said:
   'I should as soon have thought of putting my wife into the service at this
boy; but I have been out with him, and find that those smooth cheeks are on
a wise head, and that that slight frame is almost as tough as my own weather-beaten
carcass.'
   Intemperance was at that time the great vice, not only of the army, but 
of nearly all of the frontier settlements. Some men seem born with instincts
of nobility. It is difficult to account for the fact that young Harrison should
have adopted the principle of total abstinence. Whisky was regarded as quite
an essential to military life. It was deemed needful to strengthen the soldier
on his weary march, and above all to inspire him with courage and energies
for the battle. And yet this noble boy resisted all enticements to drain the
intoxicating cup. Thus he was enabled to endure toils and privations beneath
which the stoutest men sank into the grave.
   He was soon promoted to the rank of lieutenant, and was attached to General
Wayne's army in that brilliant campaign which effaced the disgrace which our
flag had endured in the terrible discomfiture of St. Clair's catastrophe. It
was in the Spring of the year 1792, that Wayne's Legion, as his army was 
called, consisting of about three thousand men, floated down the Ohio to Fort
Washington. Here Lieutenant Harrison joined the legion. His mature and soldierly
qualities immediately commanded attention and respect.
   In the great battle at the junction of the Auglaize and Maumee Rivers,
which we have already described, and where the Indians were hopelessly routed,
Lieutenant Harrison greatly signalized himself. His conduct elicited from 
his commanding officer the following warm commendation:
   "Lieutenant Harrison was in the foremost front of the hottest battle. His
person was exposed from the commencement to the close of the action. Wherever
duty called he hastened, regardless of danger, and by his efforts and example
contributed as much to secure the fortunes of the day as any other officer
subordinate to the commander-in-chief."
   He was now promoted to a captaincy, and was placed in command of Fort
Washington. He married about this time a daughter of John Cleaves Symmes, 
the energetic founder of the Miami settlements. After peace was restored
with the Indians, Captain Harrison in 1797, being then twenty-four years of
age, was appointed Secretary of the Northwestern Territory, and Lieutenant
Governor, General St. Clair being then Governor of all that region. The very
unwise law at that time was that the United States government would not sell
any tracts of land in the Northwestern Territories in quantities less than
four hundred acres. This threw land into the hands of speculators, who formed
companies, purchased immense regions, and then charged such prices as they
pleased.
   Captain Harrison, though violently opposed by the powerful capitalists, 
succeeded in obtaining such a modification of this law that Congress consented
to sell the land in alternate sections of six hundred and forty and three
hundred and twenty acres. Thus a few neighbors who wished to emigrate could
unite together and purchase their farms at government prices. The Northwestern
Territory was entitled to send one delegate to Congress. Captain Harrison
filled that office.
   The Eastern Territory, embracing mainly the region now constituting the
State of Ohio, was designated as the "Territory Northwest of the Ohio." The
Western region was called the "Indiana Territory." Captain Harrison, at
twenty-seven years of age, was appointed by John Adams, then President of the
United States, as Governor of the Indiana Territory, and soon after as 
Governor also of Upper Louisiana.
   In point of territory his realm was larger than that of almost any other
sovereign on the surface of the globe. He was also appointed Superintendent
of Indian Affairs. This invested him with almost dictatorial powers. Young
as he was, he discharged these duties with such distinguished ability that he
was three times re-appointed to these offices - twice by Thomas Jefferson
and once by James Madison.
   These almost boundless regions were then occupied almost exclusively by
roving tribes of savages and by wild beasts. There were but three white
settlements in that wilderness expanse of thousands of unsurveyed, unexplored
square miles. One of these little hamlets of a few log huts was on the Ohio
River, nearly opposite Louisville; one at Vincennes, on the Wabash; and the
third a small trading post of the French.
   During Captain Harrison's very efficient administration he effected thirteen
treaties with the Indians, by which he transferred to the United States the
undisputed title of sixty million acres of land. He had ample opportunities
to enrich himself. But his integrity was such that he never held one single
acre by a title emanating from himself.
   We have had occasion, in this history, often to speack of the outrages, 
of every conceivable kind, which the Indians endured from those lawless, 
vagabond white men, who are ever found prowling along the verge of civilization. 
Fiends could not have been more demoniac in their conduct. There was no power
in Congress to prevent these atrocities, and thousands of good men bitterly
deplored them. The savages were thus often goaded into war. And while we
could scarcely blame them, it became a painful necessity to shoot them down
in their ferocious massacres as we would ravaging wolves and bears.
   In a communication which Governor Harrison made to the United States 
Government in July, 1801, he wrote:
   "All these injuries the Indians have hitherto borne with astonishing
patience. But, though they discover no disposition to make war upon the 
United States, I am confident that most of the tribes would eagerly seize
any favorable opportunity for that purpose. And should the United States be
at war with any European nations, who are known to the Indians, there would
be a combination of more than nine-tenths of the northern tribes against us,
unless some means are made use of to conciliate them."
   Thomas Jefferson, when occupying the Presidential chair, humanely did
everything in his power to protect the Indians, and to induce them to cultivate
the soil, and strengthen themselves by all the arts of civilized life. In 
the year 1804 Governor Harrison obtained from the Indians the cession of all
their vast hunting grounds, excepting from the Illinois River to the Mississippi.
Even into these regions emigration was now beginning to flow. A territorial
legislature was organized.
   Governor Harrison, intelligent, courteous and unswervingly upright in 
every action, won universal respect and confidence. He was by nature not only
inflexibly just, but he was endowed with great amiability and kindliness of
heart. His knowledge of human nature, and his tact in dealing with all 
diversities of character, were quite remarkable. 
   "His magninamous devoted to the public interest was such that he several
time appointed decided political opponents to offices of trust, which he
deemed them eminently fitted to fill. He was so cautious to avoid the
appearance of evil, that he would not keep the public money on hand, but 
always made his payments by drafts upon Washington. It is said that no man
ever disbursed so large an amount of public treasure with so little difficulty
in adjusting his accounts.
   "For twelve years Mr. Harrison was Governor of the Territory of Indiana. \
A wealthy foreigner by the name of McIntosh accused him of having defrauded
the Indians in the treaty of Fort Wayne. The governor demanded investigation
in a court of justice. Not only was he triumphantly acquitted, but the jury
brought in a verdict against McIntosh for damages to the amount of four
thousand dollars. Governor Harrison, having thus obtained the perfect
vindication of his character, distributed one third of the sum to the orphan
children of those who had died in battle, and restored the remainder to
McIntosh himself. (Abbott's Lives of the Presidents.)
   When the governor entered upon his responsible office he took up his
residence at the old military post of Vincennes. Few men could have resisted
the temptations which were presented. Governor Harrison to accumulate a 
forture through the facilities which his office gave him. The proprietor of
the land upon which the City of St. Louis now stands offered him nearly half
of the whole township if he would merely contribute his influence to building
up the settlement. But Governor Harrison declined the proposal. So nice was
his sense of honor that he could not consent to take advantage of his
official situation to promote his private advantage. In a very few years
that property was worth millions, and the governor might have been in the
enjoyment of great wealth without defrauding an individual of a dollar.
   There was in the vicinity of Cincinnati a large tract of very valuable
land, which in the early settlement of the country had been sold for quite 
a trifling sum under an execution against the original proprietor. Subsequently,
when the propery had become of immense value, it was ascertained that
through some defect in the proceedings of the court the sale was not valid.
This being the case it was found that the legal title was vested in Mrs.
Harrison and one other individual. But Mr. Harrison at once decided that the
mistake or ignorace of the lawyer could not in equity entitle Mrs. Harrison
to hold the property. He obtained the consent of the co-heir, and immediately
relinquished the whole property to the purchasers. Such transactions are not
so common in this world as not to be remarkable.
   About the year 1806 two very remarkable Indians of the Shawanese tribe 
became very prominent. They were twin brothers. One was called Tecumseh, or
the Crouching Panther. The other was Olliuachica, or the Prophet. Tecumseh, 
from his abilities as a warrior and a statesman, would probably have attained
eminence in any any nation on the globe. He had long regarded with dread the
encroachments which the white men were making on the hunting-grounds of his
fathers. His brother, the Prophet, was an orator of great renown, and a 
religious teacher. The Indians generally regarded him as endowed with
supernatural powers.
   These savages, who have obtained world-wide renown, were born on the banks
of the Scioto, near Chillicothe. It is said that from his earliest years
Tecumseh gave evidence of the very remarkable character which he subsequently
developed. He had a high reputation for integrity. His word was invioble.
And, most remarkable of all, he was a temperate man, never indulging in 
intoxicating drinks. In all his domestic relations he was a man of singular
purity. He was entirely devoted to the interests of his countrymen, and, in
the Indian wars, obtained great celebrity as one of the bravest an most
sagacious of the warriors. He led in many of the terrible inroads which the
savages made into the territory of Kentucky. And no one could boast of having
plundered more houses, or of having intercepted more boats on the Ohio River,
than he.
   When pursued by overpowering numbers he retreated far away to the banks
of the Wabash, and there remained in security until the storm of war had
exhaused itself. Then, just as the settlers were returning to the plow, he
would swoop down upon them like the desolating hurricane. Though often immense
amounts of booty were thus obtained, his pride of character was such that he 
would seldom allow any portion of it to be appropriated to his own use. The
love of gain, with the common Indian, was the crowning motive. But Tecumseh
foresaw the annihilation of the race by the inroads of the pale-faces with
their superior civilization. It is said by the white men that it was his 
high and all absorbing ambition to avert that dreadful doom by the extermination
of the invaders. He possessed all the qualifications of a successful military
chieftain, and was apparently born to command.
   The two brothers, Tecumseh and the Prophet, according to the account as
generally received, about the year 1804, conceived the project of uniting
all the of the western Indians in a confederacy, to make a simultaneous
attack upon all the frontier settlements, so that the soldiers could not be
sent from one to the aid of another. The Prophet very shrewdly decided to
bring in the element of religious belief to inspire their followers to
enthusiastic action. He became, in reality, a sort of Mahomet with the Indians.
The foresight and true wisdom he displayed in adapting his religious system
to the accomplishment of the object he and his brother had in view, must be
regarded as one of the most remarkable events in the history of man. It would
seem that he must have heard of the religion of Jesus, and that he must have
appreciated in a striking degree its wonderous efficacy as a motive power.
   A large council was assembled, probably of the leading chiefs and warriors
of very many tribes. The Prophet addressed them in those rare strains of
eloquence, ever at his command, which moved all their hearts as the forest
leaves are swayed by the wind. He first very forcibly described the degeneracy
and corruption into which the Indians had fallen since their intercourse with
the white men. Like a temperance lecturer, he depicted the fearful woes which
the fire-water of the white men had brought to all their tribes; the new
diseases which had been introduced; the desolating wars, destroying all their
habits of industry, often laying their pleasant homes in ashes, and driving
their women and children miserably to perish of starvation in the woods.
   Pathetically he described the immense extent of their hunting grounds, 
which had already been wrested from them by the pale-faces, and showed clearly
that the invaders were every year growing stronger, while the Indians were
growing weaker. He contrasted the long, peaceful and happy lives of their
forefathers with the tumult, terrors and wars with which their homes had been
desolated since the white man came among them. This historic narrative was
enlivened with anecdotes of particular transactions of duplicity, fraud and
outrage, on the part of the whites, which roused those savage natures to the
highest pitch of indignation.
   Having thus shown the evils which they were enduring, he then turned to 
the remedy. He said that he had received a commission from the Great Spirit
to extricate his red children from the utter ruin with which they were menaced.
In proof of the authority with which he was thus invested, he affirmed his
ability to perform wondrous miracles, and in fact did perform some feats which
his hearers regarded as supernatural.
   He then declared that the Great Spirit demanded, first of all, a radical
reform in the manners and morals of his red children. They were commanded
to abandon entirely and forever all use of intoxicating drinks. They were no
longer to use any articles of clothing brought to them by the whites, but
were to dress in furs and skins, as their ancestors had done before them.
Stealing, quarreling with one another, and all impurity and immorality of
conduct whatever, were strictly forbidden. And especially they were prohibited
from engaging in any wars with each other. The red men were enjoined to 
remember that the Great Spirit was the common father of all the Indians, and
they were ever bound to regard each other as brothers.
   That such a system of faith and practice should have originated in the mind,
and ahve been clearly enunciated from the lips of a savage warrior, far away
in pathless wilds, is wonderful indeed.
   With enthusiasm unsurpassed by Peter the Hermit, in his endeavor to rouse
all Europe in a crusade against the infidel Turk, these two brothers threaded
the almost boundless wilderness, going from tribe to tribe, for two or three
years, in efforts, it is said, to organize a resistless coalition for the
extermination of the whites. Their journeyings led them over thousands of 
miles, and they visited remote and almost unknown tribes, even to the banks
of the Mississippi. No toil, sufferings, discouragements, chilled their ardor. 
They probably wrought themselves up to the full conviction that they were
truly commissioned by the Great Spirit.
   The Prophet, with his brother, occasionally held protracted meetings, which
lasted for several days. The Indians came to these gatherings from great
distances. They had prayers and exhortations and pledges of fidelity in the
great conflict for which they were preparing. Though the measures of Tecumseh
and the Prophet in organizing this formidable conspiracy had been conducted
with as much secrecy as possible, still rumors of their movements reached
the ears of Governor Harrison, whose headquarters, it will be remembered, 
were at the little hamlet of huts called Vincennes, on the Wabash River.
There were also many indications that the British authorities in Canada were
encouraging the hostile movement with advice and promises of future cooperation.
   Governor Harrison, therefore, during the year 1807, sent a message of 
inquiry and remonstrance to the Shawanese chiefs. This message was couched in
very severe terms. The Prophet dictated to the governor's message the
following reply:
   "Father: I am very sorry that you listen to the advice of bad birds. You
have accused me of having correspondence with the British; and of sending
for the Indians 'to listen to a fool, who speaks not the words of the Great
Spirit, but the words of the devil.' Father: These impeachments I deny - they
are not true. I never have had a word with the British. I have never sent for
any Indians. They came here of their own accord to hear the words of the
Great Spirit. Father: I wish you would not listen any more to the voice of
the bad birds. You may rest assured that it is the least of our idea to make
disturbance. We will rather stop such proceedings than encourage them."
   It will be observed that here the Prophet emphatically denies that he had
any design to rouse the tribes to another war. He asserted then, and continued
to assert, that his plan of saving the Indians from extermination did not 
consist in the annihilation of the whites, which he knew to be impossible, 
but that he wished to save the Indians in their rapid downward career through
intemperance and all its corresponding vices by reforming their morals, uniting
them among themselves, and encouraging industry. It is undeniable that the
white men would often get a few chiefs of a tribe together, supply them freely
with whisky, bribe them, and then enter into a treaty with them for the 
cession of lands to which these chiefs had no claim. This had been done
repeatedly.
   One of the leading objects of Tecumseh and the Prophet, as they declared,
was to have the chiefs of all the tribes agress that no more of their 
hunting grounds should be surrendered to the whites but by the consent of all
the tribes. This certainly, in their then condition, was very wise, and worthy
of the intelligence of these remarkable men. On the other hand, the attempt
to organize all the small tribes at immense distances, to send their few
hundred warriors against the well-known power of the Americans, was a very
foolish plan, and unworthy of the sagacity which these men displayed.
   It ought, also, in historic fairness, to be stated that all the record we
have of these event comes to us through the white men. The Indians have had
no chance to tell their story. There are many indications that the narrative
which has descended to us respecting the designs of Tecumseh and his brother,
had not been given in entire impartiality.
   Tippecanoe River is one of the most important tributaries of the Wabash.
It takes its rise in the extreme northern portion of the present State of
Indiana. Upon the western waters of this stream, about one hundred miles
northwest from Fort Wayne, which stood at the junction of the St. Mary's and
the St. Joseph's Rivers, the Prophet had selected his place of residence. It
was a region which probably no white man's foot had even trodden. The little
Indian village, constructed there contained only about one hundred and thirty
souls. But prominent Indians, from distant parts, were continually visiting
the Prophet to confer with him.
   In July of this year 1808, the Prophet went to Vincennes, on a pacific
message to the governor. This remote hamlet, in the wilderness, was at the
distance of several hundred miles from Tippecanoe, in a southwestern direction,
on the eastern banks of the Wabash. B. B. Thatcher writes, in his interesting
life of Tecumseh:
   "Long conferences and conversations ensued, but it could not be ascertained
that his politics were particularly British. His denial of being under any
such influence was strong and apparently candid. He said that his sole object
was to reclaim the Indians from the bad habits which they had constructed, 
and to cause them to live in peace and friendship with all mankind; and that 
he was particularly appointed to that office by the Great Spirit. He frequently,
in the presence of the governor, harangued his followers, and his constant
theme was the evils arising from war, and from the immoderate use of ardent
spirits."
   The Prophet came with a large number of followers. His power over them 
was such that no persuasions of the whites could induce one of them to touch
a drop of intoxicating drink.
   As the Prophet was about to leave Vincennes, there was a general council
held, and in the following remarkable farewell speech the Indian orator
addressed the governor:
   "Father, it is three years since I began that system of religion which I 
now practice. The white people and some of the Indians were opposed to me.
But I had no intention but to introduce among the Indians those good principles
of religion which the white people profess. I was spoken badly of by the
white people, who reproached me with misleading the Indians. But I defy them
to say that I did anything amiss.
   "Father, I was told that you intended to hang me. When I heard this I 
intended to remember it, and to tell my father the truth when I went to see
him. I heard that my father had declared that the whole land between Vincennes
and Fort Wayne was the property of the Seventeen Fires (There were then
seventeen states in the Union, which the Indians designated as the Seventeen
Council Fires. The territory which the governor was said thus to claim
amounted to the whole of the State of Indiana - author.) I also heard, my
father, that you wished to know whether I was God or man, and that if I were
God, I should not steal horses.
   "The Great Spirit told me to say to the Indians that He had made them and
made the world, and that He had placed them in this world to do good, and
not do evil. I told the red men that the way in which they were living was
not good, and that they ought to abandon it. I assured them that we ought to
consider the white men as our brothers, and that while they lived agreeably
to their customs, we should live in accordance with ours.
   "I especially urged upon them they should not drink whisky; that it was not
made for them, but for the white people, who alone knew how to use it. It is
the cause of all the mischief which the Indians suffer. I told them they 
should always follow the directions of the Great Spirit; that they should always
listen to His voice, since it was He who made us."
   "I said to them, 'Brothers, listen to nothing that is bad. Do not take up
the tomahawk should it be offered to you by the British or by the Americans.
Do not meddle with anything which does not belong to you. Attend to your own
affairs, and culitivate your fields, that your wives and children may have
food and clothing and comfortable homes.'
   "And I now inform you, my father, that it is our wish to live in peace with
our father and his people forever. I have frankly informed you of what we
mean to do. And I call the Great Spirit to witness the truth of my declaration.
The religion which I have proclaimed for the last three years has arrested
the attention of different tribes of Indians in this part of the world. These
Indians were once at variance with each other. They now live as friends. They
have resolved to practice what I have communicated to them from the Great
Spirit."
   "Brother! I speak to you as a warrior. You are one. Let us lay aside this
character and attend to the welfare of our children, that they may live in 
comfort and peace. We desire that you would unite with us for the promotion
of the happiness both of the red man and of the white people. Formerly we
Indians, living in ignorance, were very foolish. Now, since we listen to the
voice of the Great Spirit, we are happy.
   "I have listened to what you have said to us. You have promised to assist
us. I now entreat you, in behalf of all the red men, to use your exertions
to prevent the sale of liquor to us. We are all well pleased to hear you say
that you will endeavor to promote our happiness. We give you every assurance
that we will follow the dictates of the Great Spirit."
   It cannot be denied that thus far the Indian chief had decidedly the
advantage over Governor Harrison in dignified and gentlemanly bearing. The
governor had so far forgotten himself as to call the Prophet "a fool, a
horse-thief, and one professing to be a god, while he spoke the words of the
devil." The dignity with which the savage chieftain reminded the governor of
these unmannerly charges, without condescending to make any reply to them, 
is very remarkable. One cannot refrain from inquiring, "In that school did the
Prophet acquire this control over himself?"
   Still the rumor continued to spread that Tecumseh and the Prophet were 
marshaling the tribes for war. This created much alarm along the frontiers.
Still the months passed away in peace. It was reported that the village of 
the Prophet contained a thousand souls. This was deemed very alarming. And
yet, at the most, it would give him but two hundred men capable of bearing
arms. The idea is absurd that he could contemplate waging war against the
United States with such a force. Gradually rumor magnified this band to the
number of six or eight hundred warriors. But these intelligent Indian chiefs
well knew that the Americans could easily bring many thousands into the
field. Ten years before, an army of three thousand white men had swept the
valley of the Maumee with fire and the sword; and Tecumseh himself had fled
before their resistless march. Since then the strength of the white men had
wonderfully increased.
   Governor Harrison made such representations to the general government, that
orders were issued from Washington for the capture of both Tecumseh and the
Prophet. The execution of this order was suspended for a little time, that
new efforts might be made to conciliate the tribes which were said to be
disaffected. The governor, therefore, sent an earnest invitation to Tecumseh
to visit him. The chief unhesitatingly went to Vincennes with an imposing
retinue of four hundred painted warriors. A council was appointed to be held
in a small grove, a little outside from the village. The governor had sent
a very threatening message to the two chiefs in their encampment on the
Tippecanoe. In this he accursed them of hostile intentions, and, in not very
courteous phrase, said:
   "I am of the Long Knife fire. As soon as my voice is heard, you will see
the Long Knives pouring forth their swarms of warriors among you, as numerous
as the mosquitoes on the shores of the Wabash. Brothers! look out for their
strings."
   This was hardly the language to be used to high chiefs who respected 
themselves. Tecumseh took the precaution to surround himself with a retinue
as would protect him from treachery; while at the same time his force was 
too small to cause any alarm to the people of Vincennes. He was aware that 
his capture had been threatened. Tecumseh and his party encamped a little
outside of the village, and the chief sent a polite message to the governor,
inquiring whether, in the approaching council, it was expected that the 
governor and the Indian chief should go attended with their retinues of armed
men, or if they should go unarmed; stating that he was willing to adopt any
course which the governor should decide to be best.
   The governor politely replied that Tecumseh was left to his own option, 
and that the governor would follow his example. Accordingly, at the appointed
hour, Tecumseh appeared, accompanied by quite a brilliant escort of warriors, 
two hundred in number, armed with bows and arrows. The governor came in far
higher military state. He was escorted by a whole company of dragoons, 
completely armed with swords, rifles and pistols. It was probably the intention
of the governor to over-awe Tecumseh by an exhibition of his strength. But
this was hardly fair, since it place the chief and his party entirely at
the mercy of those whom he expected to meet on equal terms. The accounts 
which have heretofore been given of this interview vary in several of the
details. The writer gives it here according to the best information which
careful research can now obtain. The governor had, the preceeding year, at
Fort Wayne, made a treaty with several chiefs, by which they had surrendered
many million acres of land, which Tecumseh affirmed that they had no title
to. The chief, with great dignity, opened the council, speaking in substance
as follows:
   "We have no intention of making war against the whites; but we do desire
to unite all the tribes, in the resolve to allow no more of our lands to be
disposed of without the consent of all. Those chiefs who have recently ceded
to the Americans vast regions of our hunting grounds, which did not belong to
them, all deserve to the put to death. We can not accept that treaty. It has
no foundation in justice. The Indians, though divided into many tribes, are 
one people, and their interests are one."
   He then made a very impassioned, and no one denied that it was a truthful,
recital of the wrongs which had been inflicted upon the Indians by the white
man. These accusations, accompanied by very vehement gestures, made the 
governor angry. Both the Indians and the white men, each suspecting the
hostiltity of the other party, grasped their arms. For a few moments there 
was great danger of an awful scene of carnage, in which probably every Indian
would have been slain. Fortunately, the first blow was not struck. The
governor, much displeased with the haughty bearing of his antagonist, dismissed
the council, saying to Tecumseh:
   "I shall have no further communication with you. You are a bad man. But
since I promised you my protection, and a safe return, if you would come to
Vincennes, you may now go. But you must immediately leave the village."
   The next morning this extraordinary Indian called upon the governor and
apologized for the vehement language with which he had denounced the wrongs
which had been inflicted upon his countrymen. He reiterated his declaration
that he had no desire for the renewal of hostilities. At the same time he
declared that the Indians could no longer consent to have any more of their
hunting grounds ceded to the whites without the consent of all the tribes.
He took the same ground we take when we say that Maine cannot surrender any
portion of her territory to a foreign power without the consent of all the
states. The chief then bade the governor adieu, and with his warriors returned
to their wilderness homes.
   Just before the Indians left Vincennes, Governor Harrison visited Tecumseh
at his camp. In this interview Tecumseh said to him:
   "I have no complaint to make against the United States excepting their
purchasing the Indians land as they do. I should very much regret the necessity
of making war for this single cause. I am anxious to be on friendly terms
with the United States. If the president will give up the late purchase, and 
agree to make no more in the same manner, we will become their ally, and 
fight with them against the English. If these terms are not complied with, 
we shall be obliged to fight with the English against them."
   "Well," Tecumseh replied, "as the President is to determine the matter, I
hope that the Great Spirit will induce him to give up the land. It is true
that he is so far away that the war will not harm him. He may sit at his ease
at home, and drink his wine, while you and I will have to fight it out."
   He added very pithly: "Our white brethren have set us the example of
forming a union of all their separate states. Why should they censure us
Indians for following that example? I have succeeded in uniting most of the
northern tribes. I am now going to the south to complete this scheme. If war
ensues it will be no fault of mine. If the governor will prevent settlements
from being made on the new purchase until I return in the Spring, I will then
visit the President and endeavor to settle the matter with him."
   In reference to this remarkable interview, B. B. Thatcher, Esq., writes:
"This speech has been called an artful evasion, easily seen through. It
appears to us, on the contrary, to be a model of manly frankness. The orator
did not expressly state, indeed, that the combination alluded to anticipated
the probability or the possibility of war. But this was unnecessary. It was
the natural inference in any reasonable mind. It had been frequently so stated,
and so understood. Repetition could only exasperate. On the whole, Tecumseh
seems to have manifested a noble dignity in the avowal and discussion of his
policy, equaled only by the profound sagacity in which it originated, and
the intelligent energy which conducted it, against every opposition and obstacle,
so nearly to its completion. He might be wrong, but it is evident enough 
that he was sincere."
   It is probable that General Harrison, from false information, was led to
suppose that there were a very large number of warriors assembling at Tippecanoe,
and that unless he dispersed them before they were prepared to commence
hostilities, he might himself be overwhelmed. Thus deceived, he unfortunately
struck bloody blows, which drove thousands of the Indians into the ranks
of the British.